Hey guys! If you remember a few weeks ago, I did a blog on wedding apps. Today, Adam Leyton from Top Table Planner is here to talk more about his app and why it's a perfect app for many couples. I can tell you that as I was working on the apps blog the other week, the first thing I told Amber (A Bride's Story) was that this was definitely an app she needed.

Arranging The Seating For Your Wedding Doesn’t Have To Be A Nightmare

The wedding seating arrangement is something that often brings about a feeling of panic for many couples. Whether it’s complicated family politics that are to blame, or that fact that you’ve entrusted your husband-to-be with the seating arrangement and he’s left it right to the last minute, the seating plan is widely recognized as one of the hardest parts of planning a wedding. It doesn’t have to be that way though, and by following a few simple rules you can have all your guests seated in no time!

Firstly, start early! You don’t have to wait until all your RSVPs are back to begin working out where everyone is going to sit. Most of your close friends and family are probably going to be coming anyway so you can work out where they’re sitting even before the invitations have been sent out.

The head table can often be one of the trickiest parts. Don’t feel you need to stick with the traditional head table layout though. There are plenty of alternatives, such as a sweetheart table for the bride and groom. Seating close family can be tricky if you have parents who are separated. Asking parents to each ‘host’ their own table in front of the head table can work really well.

Try and think about people who may get on with each other – the meal is a long time to be sitting with someone you have nothing in common with. Always try and sit single guests with other people that they know, and never use it as an opportunity to try and play cupid. It’ll be really obvious and they probably won’t thank you for it! Tables that hold eight but a group of ten? This can leave a tricky ‘leftover’ couple to fit in. It’s worth asking your venue if they have one or two different sized tables. Alternately you may find that splitting the group into two 5s (or a 6 and a 4) opens up a solution.

Finally, using TopTablePlanner is a great time saver. You can import your guestlist and start seating your guests straight away. Being web-based you can log in to your account wherever you are, on whatever tablet, laptop or PC and make changes. Your account gives you 5 plans to save, so you can start again with a totally different version if you hit a block. Once finished, you can email a copy to your venue – much less stressful than scraps of paper!

To get a feel for the software, just use the free trial - no login or signup is required. For personal use, a six-month account costs just $20 and includes five plans that you can rearrange as much as you need!

Article written by Adam Leyton, Director at TopTablePlanner. After experiencing first-hand how complicated arranging the seating for a wedding can be, Adam developed and launched TopTablePlanner in 2007. Since then, the software has helped thousands of couples in over 100 countries with their seating arrangements.

Until next time, enjoy the spring weather and share the love on Facebook!